No. 5 Broncos Open WCC Play With Victory

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -
With last season's loss to San Diego in the WCC opener fresh on their minds, the Santa Clara women's soccer team saw to it that history did not repeat itself Sunday afternoon as Tiffany Roberts and Jordan Angeli netted goals 46 seconds apart in the second half to defeat the Toreros 2-0 at Torero Stadium.

"It was a pretty solid performance for us today, I thought we created many good chances to score," said head coach Jerry Smith. "We scored two nice goals against a tough, physical and determined team on their home field. We took the game to San Diego today, there was no doubt about that. Any conference win is a good win, and when you can get one on the road then it's a great win."

Santa Clara (11-2-1, 1-0-0 WCC) outshot San Diego (3-8-1, 0-1-0 WCC) 14-9 in the match, and only six saves from Torero goalkeeper Brittany Cameron kept San Diego in the match. Although the two teams played a scoreless first half, the Broncos still recorded five shots to only one for the Toreros and very nearly took a lead going into the break.

In the 35th minute, the Broncos worked their way deep into the San Diego zone and just missed putting one on the board as Jordan Angeli's shot was saved and cleared away by San Diego's Vanessa Vella, who was positioned on the line. Tina Estrada also took a point-blank shot on frame two minutes later but it went right at Cameron who was able to make the stop.

The scoreless tie wouldn't hold for much longer though, as at 61:57 Micaela Esquivel got ahead from her left-back position and sent a looping cross towards the far post which found Roberts, whose header got just inside the post to give the Broncos the 1-0 lead.

Santa Clara then pressed their advantage and 46 second later, at 62:43, Jordan Angeli capped off a Bronco rush into the box with a bullet into the back of the net to put the Toreros in a 2-0 hole.

Despite a spirited effort by the Toreros in the final 20 minutes, the Broncos back line held firm, denying San Diego on seven corner kicks in the second half. Julie Ryder made two saves in the match to record her fifth shutout of the year and competently guided her defenders in a second half which saw the two teams combine for a blistering 17 shots.

"San Diego was playing with their backs against the wall today, and it's never fun to play a team like that," Smith added about the Toreros coming off of a difficult non-conference schedule which included losses to such ranked teams as North Carolina, UCLA, Duke and Wake Forest. "They were also the only conference team we lost to last season, plus we were coming off of a Friday night match and they had not played since last Sunday. So, factoring in all of those things, I think it was a very impressive win for us today."

The fifth-ranked Broncos continue West Coast Conference play next week as they return home to host a pair of local conference rivals. Santa Clara will take on the Saint Mary's Gaels Thursday night at 7 p.m. and conclude the weekend's action with a noon kick-off against the San Francisco Dons Sunday afternoon. Both matches will be played at Buck Shaw Stadium and tickets are available by calling (408) 554-4660.